By 2050, Dallas and Houston together, according to the Texas Demographic Center, will likely share an increase of more than 4.5 million new residents. To accommodate that growth, we must make innovative transportation solutions a top priority, and that starts with private sector high-speed rail.

Traveling between the cities means either driving four hours by car or bus, or spending three hours getting to the airport, putting up with the TSA and flying to the destination. Interstate 45 endures significant wear and tear and is so congested and deteriorated that TxDOT has recommended adding two lanes, costing taxpayers billions.

That's why private sector high-speed rail is a promising solution that Texas should welcome. The best part: It won't cost taxpayers.

Texas Central Rail has secured many millions of dollars in private investments for such a project. It's difficult to imagine why some legislators are fighting a project that represents a $10 billion economic infusion, new jobs and indirect tax relief, but opponents insist that property rights and the hypothetical risk of failure should thwart the construction.

Building rails occasionally requires eminent domain authority, much like utilities, pipelines, roads, airports, schools, hospitals, firehouses and police stations. Texas has a long history of the private sector exercising eminent domain for public use, and typically without gross exploitation. In fact, private rail companies have been doing so for more than a century.

Eminent domain is a tool that our Founding Fathers included in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. It must be exercised judiciously and with the utmost restraint, and Texas has enacted property-owner protections to ensure that individual rights are prioritized. This legislative session, I have jointly authored a package of pro-property rights legislation that empowers property owners.

There are numerous misapplications of eminent domain, but as a constitutional conservative, I know that high-speed rail will not be one. Texas Central is earnestly trying to minimize its impact on property owners by planning to build the rail on existing right of way and to elevate most of the rail above ground. Property owners will also have the benefit of dealing with a private company that can pay more than appraisal value, as opposed to the state, which seizes land only at the appraised value.

Despite state demographer forecasts of significant population growth in Dallas and Harris Counties, obstructionists fear Texas Central will fail, leaving taxpayers on the hook for a bail-out. It's worth remembering that Texas didn't bail out its largest electric company. In fact, Texas won't bail out any failing companies as long as I have a vote in the Texas Senate. We will continue to honor risk takers and investors, inviting them to succeed or fail on their own merits.

Obstructing private sector high-speed rail leaves us with tired and unworkable alternatives. We do not want government to enter the rail business, so the only option for rail is the private sector. If private sector rail is thwarted, we're hamstrung in our options to improve the state's infrastructure. Private sector high-speed rail could relieve the infrastructure mess that the I-45 corridor is quickly becoming. TxDOT is already planning to spend $2.1 billion on I-45 by 2020. If I-45 ultimately has to be widened, the state will likely need seize private property by eminent domain. A vote against private sector high-speed rail is a vote for toll roads or more taxpayer investment in roads.

It's possible to respect property rights and embrace private sector investment and development. When Texas strikes that balance, our future will be brighter for it.

Don Huffines is a Republican state senator representing part of Dallas County. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. Website: donhuffines.com